blizzcon-2008
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BlizzCon attendees getting StarCraft 2 beta invites 'possibly within the next two weeks'
Apparently, not everyone who received one of those fancy voucher codes from BlizzCon 2008 was accepted into the first wave of invites for StarCraft 2. A Blizzard representative explained on the Battle.net forums that "due to the sheer number of BlizzCon attendees, we could not get everyone in with the first wave." That being said, you might want to reconsider dropping $300 on one of those vouchers. The poster confirmed that these neglected BlizzCon attendees "will be included in a future wave, possibly within the next two weeks." We're hoping the wave isn't restricted to just this group of globetrotters, and that us plebes can get our hands on the highly sought-after strategy title as well. [Via Big Download]
What's your best BlizzCon memory?
Did you manage to get your tickets? I'm sure there will be plenty of folks who are returning to BlizzCon. I wasn't able to go but I followed WoW Insider's coverage of the event from the opening ceremonies to the final concert. It was an awesome time for fans to get insight on some of the behind the scenes aspects of WoW, including an art gallery, a sound panel, and an introduction to Ghostcrawler.I have to admit that even with the massive amount of information on classes and mechanics, my favorite part was the goofy fan stuff. I love how some people really get into their costumes and dances. I think I missed out most by missing the WoW Insider meet up. It's amazing that real people get so into our favorite game franchises.For those of you who went last year, or even were following along with me, what's the best BlizzCon memory that you carry with you?BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.
Make a costume, win a trip to BlizzCon from the EU
Blizzard EU has a pretty sweet offer to you European players out there: If you like cosplay (and you're good at it) you could win a chance to go to BlizzCon for free. The official contest page states, "All you have to do is create a costume inspired by one of our game universes, pose in it, snap a photo, and send it to us!"Of course, certain rules apply, contests are never that simple, as I'm sure you've noticed with some of the contests right here on WoW Insider. The contest will begin on May 20th, 2009. It will end on June 22nd, 2009. Submissions sent early (or late) will be discarded. Entries are also limited to individuals 18 or older residing in the following countries: France Belgium United Kingdom Luxembourg Germany Austria Sweden Finland Denmark Norway Ireland Spain Check out the official contest page for the rules in their entirety and the full range of prizes, including the free trip to BlizzCon as well as products from SteelSeries, UpperDeck and Panini.%Gallery-34205%
BlizzCon 2008 beta codes now being accepted
Our sister site Joystiq pointed out last night to their readers that the BlizzCon 2008 beta codes were now being accepted, and we thought it prudent to pass the news along to you.You can enter the code over at http://www.blizzcon.com/beta and enjoy the satisfaction that you'll get knowing in a few months (or less?) you'll be playing the beta of StarCraft II.The code took me a few others on staff a couple tries to enter. 'B' looks like '8', and 'S' looks like '8'. You'll probably need to try a few different permutations of the code until you get it right. When you enter the right code, you'll get an email 'confirmation' that really just tells you that you've entered the key successfully. You don't have to do anything further. The email is a little oddly worded though, and doesn't look like your typical Blizzard email. So we've posted a copy of it after the break for folks.BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd of this year. We'll be there in force again. Should be a blast!
Bronze Orc statue footage via GametrailersTV
We've already seen pictures of Blizzard's bronze Orc statue finally arriving on their campus courtesy of the OCRegister, but Gametrailers TV has done one better: Video.The clip, while brief, has really been making the rounds through the community. I can see why! Even though it's only a short glimpse, it gives a much better sense of scale than pictures did. It's some fairly heavy duty equipment swinging the pieces of the statue around! It's really a shame that Blizzard (or someone doing it on their behalf) didn't film the whole thing for us to watch, I really would have loved to have seen it. This statue has been hyped up quite a bit for awhile now, it's sort of a shame that the 'ceremony' wasn't very easy for most of us to see.My favorite line about this particular statue came from Mike Morhaime at BlizzCon 08, long before it actually appeared on their campus. I don't remember the exact quote anymore, but he said something to the effect of, 'The statue is going to be cast from solid bronze. Long after all of us are dead, that statue will still be floating around somewhere. Thousands of years from now, an archeologist will dig it up and think to themselves, 'Wow, humans were ugly back then.' Many thanks to everyone that's sent this link in over the last day or so!
Breakfast Topic: Should the girlfriend play WoW?
I have a confession to make.My girlfriend doesn't play WoW. However she probably knows more about it than most people. She's been there when I hoot and holler over vent when I've defeated hard bosses like Kale'thas. And she's listened to me whine and complain about how I think everyone on the internet hates me (I'm kidding of course, it's only Retribution Paladins and Death Knights who hate me, or maybe it was Protection Warriors and Elemental Shamans, I can never remember).Occasionally she can be found browsing the site to see what I've been working on. Like the time that I was in LA at BlizzCon and Mike Schramm sent me forth to risk my life in a fire. That went over well.But despite my immersion in the game and the community surrounding it she has yet to pick up a sword and fight the Horde.I'm trying to figure out if that's something that should change.
Queue queue moar noob
It's 10:40 p.m. EST on my server and there is a 30 minute wait to login with a queue of over 300. Oh me oh my, time to get out my BlizzCon goodie bag and head for the QQ n00b tissues.Many users across most of the servers, both in the U.S. and E.U., are reporting long queues again. While the population always seems to uptick around this time of year, one has to raise an eyebrow at this happening a second time in as many months.November was understandable. Wrath was a big deal. But after a week or so the queues died down. Is this just the second insurgent of Wrath's wrath?One can surmise that a large number of people received Wrath as a Christmas gift. The assumption is probably correct. Another popular theory is that with all the vacation time on folk's plate right now, people are using it to log into the game and enjoy a bit of Northrend adventuring.
Send us your Halloween costumes!
Dressing up like something WoW-related for Halloween this year? Take a picture and send it to our tips line, because we'd love to see it! Whether you nabbed one of Blizzard's official costumes, worked a long time on a Tauren costume, or are just gluing some ears on and calling yourself a Night Elf, we'd love to take a look at what you're dressing up as, and we're sure our readers do, too. We'll collect all the pictures together and post them tomorrow, so we can check out what WoW fans are pretending to be this Halloween.And if you need some inspiration, here's all of our costume galleries from the past two BlizzCons and the results of last year's ingame contest. Sure, you probably can't beat that girl on the turtle (or can you?), but as the couple and their adorable baby Murloc above show (they're from Blizzard's official gallery from last year), even a little bit of costume goes a long way.%Gallery-9805%%Gallery-34205%%Gallery-5529%
BlizzCon and Fan Faire: A comparison of corporate conventions
On the surface, one might think that there's no major differences between Blizzard's BlizzCon and SOE's Fan Faire. Both events are there to bring players together in the interest of geeking out on their favorite games from the two respective companies. That said, there are some distinct variations in purpose: Blizzard has stated they'll only do BlizzCon when they have something to show. Meanwhile SOE has been hosting Fan Faire since 2000. For the first three years there were multiple Fan Faires each year. As we attended both events this year, we thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast some of the good and bad from both weekends. Curious as to how the two events played out? Check out our gallery tour of some of the common experiences from these two conventions and see how they stack up.%Gallery-35466%
World of WarCrafts: BlizzCon photo frame
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.This year I was fortunate enough to attend BlizzCon, and while my experience ranked right up there with getting a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, there was one thing missing. A picture frame.How Blizzard forgot to include such a simple product in their stores, made to protect our memories of such a grand event, escapes me. However, this oversight has allowed me to craft a frame reminiscent of the icy chill soon to takeover what's left of our social lives, Wrath of the Lich King.Here is what you will need: Unfinished Photo Frame Balsa Wood Sticks Wood Saw Spray Paint (you may have some leftover from crafting the Cataclysm's Edge) Blue Glitter Flakes Photo Paper Overlaminate Sheet Mod Podge Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-35161%
A video tour of the Blizzard Entertainment campus
Tracey John from MTV Multiplayer was recently given a tour of Blizzard Entertainment's Headquarters in Irvine, California, just before BlizzCon 2008. Executive VP of Game Design Rob Pardo led them on the tour of the campus as they filmed the whole thing, from the Blizzard Museum (with a signed script of Make Love Not Warcraft) to a dedicated theater for the staff. It's an interesting look at some of the perks employees get for putting in all those hours, and the campus itself seems like a great place to work. Check out the video below the cut. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Blizzard: World of Warcraft will do fine, global economic collapse be damned
Alright, so the sky is falling. Pretty soon, the world will be dominated by mohawks, black leather and hand-built muscle cars in a never-ending deathmatch over who gets to eat the roadkill. Okay, maybe it won't be that bad -- but unless you've been stranded on a desert island for the past year, you know that there's a global economic crisis going on. But worry not: MMOs -- World of Warcraft in particular -- will be just fine, according to Blizzard Executive VP Rob Pardo.He said that WoW is immune to economic downturn because it offers an excellent bargain: "People might not want to go out to the movies and spend $100 for a couple of hours and then go to a restaurant. You can go home and pay $15 a month for 100 hours of entertainment if you're staying at home more." A comparable situation from history: during the Great Depression, movies in the United States were only a nickel -- far cheaper than competing, live forms of entertainment, so the movie industry thrived. In fact, some folks credit the Great Depression as a contributor to the rise of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Think the same'll happen to MMOs if this gets bad?
WoW Moviewatch: Fruit of Elune
Warning: Parts of this film may be offensive to some viewers.It's sad that we have to end the Moviewatch week with the film Fruit of Elune by Tivas & Gobbler of Myndflame and Dementia Studio. The filmmaker's description is this: "Elune, diety of the night elves, rains love from the heavens creating peace." My take? No. It's neither love nor peace. It's just another commercial parody, this time without much imagination and with the same underwear joke over and over again. If it were merely immature, I would shrug it off, roll my eyes, and forget about it. But on top of not being very funny or original, the filmmakers attempt a joke about domestic violence which I find entirely unhumorous and offensive to boot. I'm astounded and saddened that the judges picked this film as a Runner Up in the Comedy category for the BlizzCon 2008 movie contest. If it hadn't won a prize in the contest, you wouldn't be seeing it here on Moviewatch. Not on my watch, anyway. Not cool, Blizzard, not cool at all.[Via WarcraftMovies]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: Mercy of the Sea
Mercy of the Sea, Runner Up in the Action/Adventure category of the BlizzCon 2008 movie contest, is a long film, clocking in at over 23 minutes. The clip embedded above is only the first act of three acts total. You can watch the entire film by streaming it, downloading it, or watching the three YouTube clips in order. Sleeping Dogs Productions, headed by J. Joshua Diltz, which also created Rise of the Living Dead and The Island, now brings us the tale of High Priestess Elunari as she tries to rescue her kidnapped child from her power-hungry husband, the Arch Druid. Of the BlizzCon-entered movies I've watched this year, this one is my least favorite. While it is an undoubtedly polished production -- the voice talents, music, and sound design stand out in particular -- the story struggled to keep my interest, sometimes from plain confusion. The backstory takes up the first 3-1/2 minutes of the film and is told without animation, via what is essentially a slide show. It moves very slowly and provides little that we don't understand from context later. (As such, I would recommend axing the narrated backstory altogether.) Then, ironically, much of the action in the main portion of the film was difficult for me to follow. The battle scenes were too cluttered with closeups and blur-effects to make much sense to me. Most times I couldn't even tell what spells were being cast or who was fighting whom. I never figured out how the Priestess escaped, who died overall, or why the "core" meltdown occurred. Nor was I able to follow the action well enough to figure out how the Arch Druid caught up to the Priestess at the end of the film, much less why either of them were still alive after their fiery collision. Without adding spoilers, I also can't figure out how the ending events occurred either. There were too many quick cuts, too many out-of-context closeups, too much deus ex machina, too much backstory and not enough battle context for me to enjoy the film.Tomorrow we'll take a look at Fruit of Elune by Myndflame to wrap up our BlizzCon movie contest coverage.[Via WarcraftMovies]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
BlizzCon 2008: Blizzard's Rob Pardo talks Diablo 3
We met up with Blizzard's Rob Pardo, vice-president of game design and one of Time Magazine's 2006 "100 Most Influential People in the World," at BlizzCon to ask him about all things Diablo 3, since we'd already gotten the good from him about Starcraft 2 and Battle.net. He didn't grant our wish to let us take home a copy of the Diablo 3 demo, but he did say a beta would be out for the game ... at some point. Find out what little we were able to squeeze out of him after the break.%Gallery-34238%
The best of WoW Insider: October 7-14, 2008
Warcraft fans are pretty much all just as happy as that kid above (ok, well maybe not that happy). But there's lots of reasons to cheer -- BlizzCon took place in Anaheim, California this past weekend, patch 3.0.2 hit the live realms today, and next month, Wrath of the Lich King, the second WoW expansion, sees release. And throughout everything that's happening, WoW Insider has you covered -- here's our biggest stories from this weekend's convention and today's patch release. BlizzCon 2008 BlizzCon Roundup: Day 1Everything we saw on Friday inside the Anaheim Convention Center. BlizzCon Roundup: Day 2Even more news from Blizzard about World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, and Starcraft 2. BlizzCon 2008: Sound panelBlizzard's music team provided a rare treat during the Sound panel, and we recorded it just for you. BlizzCon 2008: The Art GalleryA gallery on the show floor exhibits some terrific art from all of Blizzard's games (and a few hints at what upcoming titles will look like). BlizzCon 2008: The first day of mayhemDidn't make it to BlizzCon? Browsing this huge gallery of the show floor will put you there anyway. BlizzCon 2008: Costume contestThe real reason everyone goes to these conventions: the costumes. Patch 3.0.2: Echoes of Doom Patch 3.0.2: Echoes of DoomOur main page for the patch has everything you need to know about what's new in game, and then some. Barbershops live in Wrath betaFor the first time, your characters will be able to change their physical appearance. Find out how. In-game calendar system revealedHere's how you can use the brand-new in-game calendar to organize your gameplay. Spellpower 101, or how I learned to love unified attributesNo more +healing or +damage -- now, all of your spell stats are combined into one.
Polar Bear Mount is live and Bind on Account
If you were lucky enough to get your hands on the Polar Bear Mount loot card from BlizzCon this year (either via attending the con or through DirecTV), then you're in for some happiness tonight if you redeem it.The redemption now works. You can go to http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/promotion.html and fill out the forum there to get your prize all setup. Take the code that's given to you and head to Ransin Donner in the Forlorn Cavern in Ironforge – not the guy in STV like the page says. Turn in the code to Ransin and you'll be presented with a Bind on Account Polar Bear Mount!Yes – Bind on Account! That means you can use the mount on any of your characters on the same account. Very cool for those of us with tons of alts.Take a look at the gallery below for what the polar bear mount looks like. You'll probably see a few of these pop up over the next few days in your travels around Azeroth. %Gallery-34529%
BlizzCon 2008: The awesome of the ending ceremony
On Saturday night the walls of the Anaheim Convention Center rocked with the cheers and laughter of thousands of BlizzCon 2008 attendees. This year's two-day event was packed full of excellent panels, cool gameplay and of course, lines that seemed to stretch from here to eternity. (I personally clocked in 3 1/2 hours in the store line - but I got awesome goodies out of it.) However, it was this final event that put the crown jewel in this year's BlizzCon event. Curious as to what all went on? Click through the gallery to check out the sights (and some sounds) from the front lines! On to the pictures! >> %Gallery-34307%
World of Warcraft players will earn experience points in PvP
We almost missed this major revelation on our sister site WoW Insider -- we might not have caught it if Eurogamer hadn't. Deep within WoW Insider's excellent liveblog of the World of Warcraft PvP panel at Blizzcon, you'll find that Blizzard reps let slip that players will soon be able to earn experience points in addition to honor in PvP.That's already possible in WoW's new competitor Warhammer Online, in which it is essentially just as viable to level up to the cap in PvP as it is in PvE. The WoW devs are likely responding to the competition, knowing that they might lose big fans of PvP to WAR. In that vein, they're also ensuring that daily PvP quests are available from levels 10 - 80.It's hard not to look at this as a good change. The only argument against it we can think of is that if a player levels from 10 - 80 entirely in the battlegrounds, he or she will not have the necessary experience to run instances and raids at later levels if a change of course is desired. But that seems like a fairly minor criticism of a long-needed addition to the game.
WoW Moviewatch: Snacky's Journal 4 wins Grand Prize at BlizzCon
Although the BlizzCon movie contest was hardly publicized at all -- no press releases about the contest or the winners -- it yielded the cream of the WoW machinima crop so we will be featuring the winning movies here at WoW Moviewatch for the next few days. The winner in each category, as well as the Grand Prize winner, received the newly minted Oswald award to put on their shelves. (I hereby dub thee The Ozzie!) Today we feature the Grand Prize winner, Snacky's Journal - Episode 4 by the typically brilliant Stone Falcon Productions. This film also won the Drama/Romance category (see below), even though I think it is better suited for the Comedy category. It's good, Snackish fun, with high quality film-making and acting, as all the Snackys are. I like the new fem gnome and I hope she continues in the series because she's a cute character and could make for a good foil for Snacky.Here's a list of the other winners, along with links to ones that have been already featured on WoW Insider. We'll feature and comment on some of the others this week. Action/Adventure Category Runner-up: The Future Soon by Spiffworld Runner-up: Mercy of the Sea by Sleeping Dog Productions Winner: Divided Soul by Falch Productions Comedy Category Runner-up: Fruit of Elune by Myndflame Runner-up: The Dead Murloc by KILH Machinima Winner: The Rumpus Machine by Oblivious Films Drama/Romance Category Runner-up: Dead Rain 2 by Bear on a Trampoline Runner-up: Redshift by Slashdance Winner: Snacky's Journal - Episode 4 by Stone Falcon Productions If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
